But young hearts mend easily, and hearts that own half of England have something better to do than to beat faster for love.

You can smile when your heart is breaking because you're a woman.

I love reading and I love thinking - the reason that I love my books so much is that in order to write them I have to read and to think for years at a time about the same period of time.

I was born to be your rival,' she [Anne] said simply. 'And you mine. We're sisters, aren't we?

I shall be dark and French and fashionable and difficult. And you shall be sweet and open and English and fair. What a pair we shall be! What man can resist us?

The world hasn't changed that much; men still rule.

Although some people think I am a romantic novelist I have always thought of myself as a rather gritty radical historian.